Is this the life I live?
"It's torture time."
Harry gulped. From the corner of his eye he saw movement from his parents and godfather. They were getting up and blocking him from the death eater.
"Move! I won't hesitate to use this against you." He waved the whip to put emphasis on his threat.
"We won't let you harm our son," James spoke boldly.
"Well, that's just too bad, you should have thought of that years ago! If you hadn't stopped the dark lord your little brat would have died with very little pain. This is just as much your punishment as it is his. The dark lord will make sure that you three are there to watch him suffer. That will teach you your place, and teach you what happens if you resist the dark lord. Now, move!"
With very little choice they started moving out of the cell and past the wards with the deatheater trailing behind them. The walk past in the dark, damp halls felt excruciatingly long. Morbid thoughts ran through all of their heads, they dreaded the pain that they were about to suffer. Harry knew that the order would of course be looking for him, but there are even more important matters then just finding him and it would only be a matter of time before they would assume him dead and hope of being found would be lost. He knew that Voldemort knew this too, he needed Harry gone.
They silently prayed that this time the order would find some clues and that they would be able to find them, and that this time not all hope was lost. The deatheater behind them shouted for them to halt, they knew they reached their destination. The room they were standing in was big and circular and in the middle of the room was a throne made of human skulls, some with skin still rotting on them. The smell was terrible, upon getting in the room when the smell first raped their nostrils, their first instinct was to just retch on the floor, but they were able to keep the vomit in. They could only assume that the skulls were from muggle-borns and blood-traitors, or anyone that the 'dark lord' thought unworthy of life.
"Turn towards the wall. Quickly!" the cruel voice ordered.
"Welcome, welcome," this was a cold voice that chilled your very soul, a voice that worked like a dementors kiss. It was a death sentence to hear. The prisoners repressed the instinct to shiver where they stood. Whatever Voldemort had, it would not be very pleasant, no, not pleasant at all. Bring it.
They were later returned to their cell, aching and bleeding. Whips, freezing metal, burning metal, freezing water; the deatheaters showed how ruthless they were, but it was not their worst. They have seen some of the weapons that they had, but dared not use, yet. The small family was happy to be back at the small cell.
"I wish that I had Hedwig, I would probably be able to send a message to Dumbledore."
"If you had Hedwig, they would probably roast and eat her." Sirius pointed out.
"Come on, mates, think on the positive side. We are all still alive and together." James tried to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, but for how much longer. We can't just stay here, if they keep up like this, it is only a matter of time before we just give up." Lily shot back.
"I wonder where Remus is. It would probably be hell on full moons without any of us there."
"Yeah, that is just like you, Padfoot, always thinking of others when we are stuck in a rotting cell."
"Man, Prongs, what got up your arse and died!"
"Boys!"
"So, Harry, how is the old wolf doing?"
"He took it pretty hard after you 'died.'"
"Pssstttt," when they turned towards the noise they saw two deatheaters. They immediately tensed thinking that they would get more punishment.
"Potters, Black, it's Snape, I came here so you can send a message to the order. I will tell them were they are and they could make a diversion so that you could escape and we will have and escort waiting to take you to Head Quarters."
"Snape! Who's the other person?" Sirius asked, disapproval written in his voice. It seems that even in the most desperate situation he couldn't seem to put aside the childhood rivalry.
"It's Wormtail," the smaller and fatter figure responded.
"You," Sirius was outraged that the figure even had the nerve to show his presents in front of him.
"Listen, I'm so sorry, I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I want to show that I regret the decision I made. I probably won't make it out alive if the dark lord found that I helped you. Harry, you saved my life back at the Shrieking Shack, consider this my debt repaid."
Harry nodded, he never expected Wormtail to ever show any courage or remorse, even though he suspected deep down that there was more to the little man who could turn himself into a rat. He couldn't find it in himself to hate the man any more; instead he found he had a small amount of respect for him. He couldn't entirely forgive him, no, but he could not entirely hate him any more either.
"Snape, where exactly are we?"
"This is the ruined palace that had once been a school of one of the founders, before they founded Hogwarts. It is written in a dark book that the founders were descended from Merlin, and that Salazar Slytherin was descended from one of Merlin's sons, Palicen, who founded the dark arts. Before Hogwarts, Slytherin taught the dark arts to selected students, the purest of the pure. His school became destroyed; it was an ambush from the first giants. Slytherin launched an attack to avenge his teachings, in which the giants disagreed with, and forced them into the mountains for the first time. They eventually came back after the death of Slytherin, but after that he came by the other three founders and they found Hogwarts. You know how it goes after that and if you don't I suggest you ask Granger, because right now I have better things then to teach you what you should have already known. This is where you are the ruined school of Salazar Slytherin, it has been lost for years, only known to the heir, and it resides in Albania. The dark lord must have found it while hiding out after his first defeat."
"Wow, what is the school called? And how do you know all this?"
"I will not answer the second question yet, but for the first, it is known as Coma Caligo, or light darkness (A/N: I'm sorry if I got this wrong, I don't know Latin. So, yeah.). Salazar Slytherin believed that dark magic was not really dark and had a good value about it, he thought that it should be used instead of frowned on. Majority of the wizarding world thought it should be banned, except for a select few, and when he made those views public they wanted to keep him from teaching, and nearly banned him from Hogwarts. He was protected from the founders, even though they got wary of him, they tried to ban him from the school a few times but on the last time he decided to build a chamber inside the castle so that something is left of him there and swore revenge. Only the heir a true heir, someone who really believed in the dark arts would be able to control whatever resides in the chamber. Although it is no longer something to worry about now, you made sure of that. But after this school was ruined, it is said that he put charms on the remains in hope that someday it could be rebuilt and used again."
"Why did the wizarding world just ban against him like that?"
"Because he was a controlling bastard of course!" Sirius said.
"Will you shut up, Black. They thought that he wanted to make a world of Pure-bloods and wanted to use the magic against muggles, and muggle-borns. They deemed him as a dictator, and a self-appointing ruler. Somewhat like the dark lord is, now. But in reality, I think that he just wanted it to be known magic, like how we teach defense of the dark arts, he just wanted dark arts to be known, but was misunderstood. The select few whom he had taught, some became dark wizards and started using dark magic to rule and show superiority, the opposite of how Salazar intended it to be used. They gave the name 'dark' to the magic Slytherin taught, and that was probably what made him sound the darker than he really was. It was well known that he betrayed Gryffindor, and that just added more to his bad reputation, that was probably what ended him."
"He betrayed Godric Gryffindor?"
"Yes, but I don't think this is the best time to discuss it, I think I hear someone coming and I also need time to get to the order to discuss a plan." Just as he whispered the last few words someone called his name and turned a corner.
"Severus," it was Fenrir Greyback and with him was Lucius Malfoy, "we didn't expect you to come, we thought you had other priorities, like making sure the old fraud remained satisfied."
Snape let out a small growl that was hardly audible. "I was just making sure that you haven't killed the scum, you know what our lord would do if he came by and found them dead, especially the little Potter brat, from your neglecting the lord's orders."
This time Fenrir let out a growl, "Do not tell me how to do my job, and obey my lords orders."
"Your lord?" Snape questioned, "I do not see the mark on your arm, do you know what that means? I'll tell you, it means that you are just a common mutt, dispensable, and that the Dark Lord wouldn't even trust you to wash his dirty robes."
"Severus, I don't think that our lord would appreciate you making those references. The walls do have ears you know." Fenrir glowered at Snape as the senior Malfoy reprimanded him.
"Fine, now werewolf, why don't you go find something to hump or pee on," the werewolf growled and tried to launch himself at the other wizards throat, only to be stopped by Lucius, "Lucius, I need to speak to you."
He nodded and said something to Greyback that no one else could hear, after Fenrir stormed out Severus turned to Wormtail.
"Now Pettigrew, Why don't you go scurry along?" Peter glared at him and stormed after Fenrir. The prisoners looked at the display with unabashed curiosity. Severus turned and glared at them and dragged Lucius off right out of hearing range.
"Wow, what do you think that is about?" Harry asked, everyone else just shrugged and continues watching the two deatheaters conversing, seeing if they could make anything out.
Lucius and Severus's conversation
"Lucius, I need to talk to you."
"Is this about the order? Because I don't plan to swear my allegiance. I do not support the dark lord as you know, but I will not risk the danger of my family following that old coot like a lost puppy."
"I know the lord's plan for Draco." Lucius nodded gravely, the helplessness written on his pale features.
"Is it true?"
"Yes, I made an unbreakable vow with Narcissa (A/N: I don't think I spelt that right, oh, well)."
"So, you could help my son?"
"I'll do what I can?"
"Draco's not a killer, you know that just as well as I, and so does He." Severus knew that he was talking about Voldemort. "You're planning on breaking them out, aren't you?"
Severus nodded, "Dumbledore would want them back, and anyway Potter plays a vital part in our fates. I need to get him back to the order and Head Quarters. He needs more training."
"You are wanting my help with this, too?" Again a nod, "If the dark lord finds out I don't think that I can risk my family to help even my dearest of friends. I will tell him I know nothing, but I think that is all I can do. I don't think that I have the strength to repel him from my mind if he digs deep enough. I think that I could only cover up this conversation, but that may be the most that I can do."
"This is something I need to do, if the dark lord finds out I will have to stay low, and probably go into hiding for a while."
"Is there a day when we could expect the attack?"
"It won't be a battle, only a distraction until we could get the prisoners out."
"May I ask you a favor?"
"Of course."
"Take Draco with them, I know it will take a while, and that they will be suspicious of him for a while. But I really need to know he's safe, and the order is just a bunch of Gryffindors, who couldn't even pull a hair from his head, even if they wanted to."
"They are more capable then you give them credit for, but I will do what I can for your son."
"Narcissa is as stubborn as the lord is ruthless, she wouldn't be as willing to leave. She is ready to fight, and I know where her loyalties lye, same as mine. We won't join the order, but we are prepared to fight the dark lord."
Yay! Another chapter done, I know that it is pretty short. And I decided not to go into detail about the torture, sorry to anyone who may have been looking forward to it, sado's.
Next chapter will be the orders reaction to Harry's kidnapping and be focusing on what they are doing during his imprisonment.
I thought that it would be fun to do something on Slytherins past. I wanted to make him a better person than they have him as in the book, and make him sort of the misunderstood type. I also decided to have the Malfoy family, or at least the parents to be sort of on the light side. I hope you enjoyed.
Remember to review; I would even be happy even if it is criticism. Oh, and sorry about any grammar errors and thanks to anyone who's reviewed.